What A Secret Laboratory Can Teach Us About Business Part 1: Intellectual Property

The other day, head lawyer Alexander Coomes visited the Carbide Wilson ruins north of Ottawa. These ruins of a former laboratory help reveal Canadian history, but also show key lessons in business planning.

For context, Thomas “Carbide” Wilson got his name from his work synthesizing and selling carbide for a variety of purposes. This chemical would make Wilson extremely wealthy. Thomas Wilson invested these profits into creating phosphate based fertilizers at his laboratory on Meech Lake. This venture would ultimately fail and cost Wilson most of his fortune.

One of the key lessons we can take from the ruins is the importance of using all available tools to protect intellectual property. Carbide Wilson profited greatly from his many patents, but he also was willing to use less conventional methods to prevent his secrets from getting leaked. The ruins of Wilson’s lab is a 15 minute drive and a several kilometer hike away from Ottawa. The location was specifically chosen in a hard to reach area to make the laboratory difficult to find and prevent trade secrets from getting leaked.

While your business might not need a secret laboratory to protect its secrets, you should still look to protect your intellectual property in your business. Tools such as non-disclosure agreements, non-solicitation agreements and well crafted contracts can help protect you and your business.